Child Life Specialist

Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago provides superior pediatric care in a setting that offers the latest benefits and innovations in medical technology, research and family-friendly design. As the largest pediatric provider in the region with a 140-year legacy of excellence, kids and their families are at the center of all we do. Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago is ranked in all 10 specialties by the U.S. News & World Report.

Day (United States of America)

Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago

General Summary:  

The Child Life Specialist is a clinical expert in child development, emotional safety, and trauma-informed care who provides assessment and intervention to mitigate and reduce negative experiences within the medical setting. Provides leadership, expertise and knowledge of child development within the context of challenging medical experiences to support patient’s and caregivers’ coping, emotional safety and encouraging optimum development.

Essential Job Functions:

• Integrates emotional safety into care of patients and families through individualized care and quality improvement projects. This includes timely, effective, and trauma-informed interventions focused on preparation, education, and support within a developmentally attuned framework.
• Develops therapeutic relationships with patients and caregivers to provide a psychosocial assessment of their emotional support and overall coping needs.
• Assessments include evaluation of coping style, temperament and adjustment to inform interventions to address emotional safety, understanding, and psychosocial wellbeing throughout medical care.
• Documents these interventions in the medical record based on clinical assessment, in accordance with professional standards.
• Advocates for and addresses the psychosocial/developmental/spiritual/cultural needs of the child and family throughout the continuum of care to promote comprehensive psychosocial and family-centered care.
• Demonstrates a steady commitment to anti-bias practices throughout their work with a focus on diversity, equity and inclusion.  
• Builds and maintains positive, collaborative relationships with interdisciplinary team members to address individual patient care goals as well as impact broader systems and policy toward systemic change.  
• Participates in team conferences, rounds, staff meetings, new staff member orientation, and in-service education as appropriate. 
• Facilitates practical, theoretical, and clinical training regarding the psychosocial care of children, via formal and informal educational lectures to all members of patient care teams and hospital staff.
• Serves as a subject matter expert on unit based, hospital wide, interdisciplinary committees, articulating the therapeutic and clinical nature of the work done by child life staff.
• Assists in preparation and dissemination of information representing the hospital and Child Life Program to community groups, organizations, and the news media.  
• Works to meet institutional and team goals and assumes responsibility for professional development through participation in seminars, course work, and/or hospital education programs to develop and maintain professional credentials in pursuit of realizing and standardizing trends of best practice(s).  
• Participates and leads quality improvement projects aimed at integrating innovations in the field and evidence based best practice standards into day-to-day workflows to ensure emotionally safe care and optimal patient and family outcomes.
• Embraces improvements and actively participates in the implementation of new/improved programs, technology, equipment, systems and resources that promote quality of care, safety and efficiency.
• Provides supervision of child life students as a professional responsibility and in pursuit of growth of the field of Child Life Specialists. 
• Other job functions as assigned, 

Minimium Requirements:

• Requires completion of a bachelor’s degree, with knowledge of child and adolescent development typically acquired through the a focus on child development, child and family development, or related field of study.
• Requires current CCLS (certified child life specialist) credential from the Association of Child Life Professionals (acquired within 12 months of hire).
• 1-2 years of experience preferred
• Basic Life Support Certification required.  Obtained within 6 months of hire.
• Spanish language abilities strongly preferred.

Education

Bachelor's Degree (Required)

Pay Range

$49,920.00-$81,619.20 Salary

At Lurie Children’s, we are committed to competitive and fair compensation aligned with market rates and internal equity, reflecting individual contributions, experience, and expertise. The pay range for this job indicates minimum and maximum targets for the position. Ranges are regularly reviewed to stay aligned with market conditions. In addition to base salary, Lurie Children’s offer a comprehensive rewards package that may include differentials for some hourly employees, leadership incentives for select roles, health and retirement benefits, and wellbeing programs. For more details on other compensation, consult your recruiter or click the following link to learn more about our benefits.

Benefit Statement

For full time and part time employees who work 20 or more hours per week we offer a generous benefits package that includes:

Medical, dental and vision insurance

Employer paid group term life and disability

Employer contribution toward Health Savings Account

Flexible Spending Accounts

Paid Time Off (PTO), Paid Holidays and Paid Parental Leave

403(b) with a 5% employer match

Various voluntary benefits:

• Supplemental Life, AD&D and Disability
• Critical Illness, Accident and Hospital Indemnity coverage
• Tuition assistance
• Student loan servicing and support
• Adoption benefits
• Backup Childcare and Eldercare
• Employee Assistance Program, and other specialized behavioral health services and resources for employees and family members
• Discount on services at Lurie Children’s facilities
• Discount purchasing program

There’s a Place for You with Us

At Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago and its affiliates (collectively “Lurie Children’s”), we embrace and celebrate diversity and equity in a serious way. We are committed to building a team with a variety of backgrounds, skills, and viewpoints — recognizing that diverse identities strengthen our workplace and the care we can provide to the Chicago community and beyond. We treat everyone fairly, appreciate differences, and make meaningful connections that foster belonging and allyship. This is a place where you can be your best, so we can give our best to the patients and families who trust us with their care.  

Lurie Children’s and its affiliates are equal employment opportunity employers.  We value diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.  All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, religion, national origin, ancestry, age, disability, marital status, pregnancy, protected veteran status, order of protection status, protected genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by law. 

For questions about how to request an accommodation please contact: employeehealth@luriechildrens.org

AI Notice 

Lurie Children’s utilizes certain AI-enabled features within our recruiting platform to support candidate engagement and assist recruiters in identifying and prioritizing applicants whose experience aligns with job requirements. All employment decisions are made by individuals.

It is a civil rights violation with respect to recruitment, hiring, promotion, or employment for an employer to use artificial intelligence that has the effect of subjecting employees to discrimination on the basis of protected classes under the Illinois Human Rights Act or to use zip codes as a proxy for protected classes.

For questions about the use of artificial intelligence in this process or any additional support, please contact: peoplequestions@luriechildrens.org